FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1996                        (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
    ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES INDICTED IN OIL DUMPING CONSPIRACY
                                 
Charges Include Lying To Coast Guard and Obstruction Of Justice


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto
Rico has indicted the Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.
(RCCL), one of the world's largest cruise lines, for conspiracy
to dump waste oil in U.S. waters from five of its cruise ships
and for making false statements about its practices to the Coast
Guard.  The ten-count indictment, unsealed today, also charges
RCCL and two high level employees with obstruction of justice for
tampering with witnesses and destroying evidence that a cruise
ship was bypassing pollution control procedures.

     On October 25, 1994, as part of a proactive U.S. Coast Guard
surveillance operation designed to detect and deter the
intentional dumping of waste oil, the Coast Guard observed RCCL's
flag ship, the Sovereign of the Seas, discharging waste oil from
the vessel's bilges in U.S. territorial waters off the coast of
Puerto Rico.  The Coast Guard boarded the ship to investigate. 
The indictment alleges that following the boarding, but prior to
a follow-up inspection, the ship's First Engineer ordered the
removal and destruction of a pipe used to bypass the ship's oil
water separator, a required pollution control device.

     The indictment charges that cruise ship engineers routinely
dumped oily bilge waste overboard from the Soveriegn of the Seas
and other cruise ships, instead of processing the waste through
the separator and discharging waste oil to a reception facility
in port.  RCCL employees allegedly falsified oil record books on
various ships to conceal the discharge practices from the Coast
Guard.  The crew of the ship allegedly referred to the log as the
"Eventyrbok," after a popular Norwegian fairytale book.

     "This indictment is a shot across the bow of ships that
would intentionally foul our coastal waters and lie about it to
federal investigators.  As a port and coastal nation, the United
States has a great interest in assuring that vessels using our
ports and waters protect our environment and tell the truth,"
said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources
Division.  "Charges that one of the largest cruise lines in the
world was deliberately polluting the environment was lying to
regulators is very serious.  The case represents a reasonable
exercise of port state and coastal state enforcement authority."

     "This prosecution sounds a fog horn to ship companies and
crew members that vessels using the waters adjacent to Puerto
Rico had better comply with the law.  Lying to the Coast Guard is
a serious crime that will be prosecuted to the full extent of the
law," said U.S. Attorney Guillermo Gil.

     RCCL Chief Engineer Henry Ericksen and First Engineer Svenn
Rikard Roeymo also were charged in today's indictment.  Ericksen
allegedly ordered a crew member to lie to the Coast Guard and a
federal grand jury in San Juan.  Roeymo allegedly ordered that
the bypass pipe be removed following the Coast Guard boarding. 

     The indictment also charges that the engineers on at least
five RCCL cruise ships -- Sovereign of the Seas, Monarch of the
Seas, Song of America, Nordic Prince and Nordic Empress --
maintained false documents to conceal overboard discharges of
oily bilge waste from the Coast Guard.  Additional acts in the
conspiracy include:

þ    The Song of America oil record book contained false entries
     and failed to disclose that sludge oil as well as oil
     contaminated bilge waste were routinely dumped overboard
     from the ship;

þ    The Nordic Prince oil record book contained false entries
     and failed to disclose that oily bilge waste was discharged
     in the summer of 1994 on cruises between Canada and Alaska;
     and,

þ    An RCCL engineer was ordered to make false entries in the
     Nordic Prince oil record book during a 1994 Coast Guard
     inspection in Alaska in order to create the false impression
     that the Oil Water Separator was used.

     RCCL is incorporated in Liberia and headquartered in Miami,
Florida.  Major U.S. ports used by RCCL include New York, Miami,
San Juan, St. Thomas, Los Angeles, and Juneau, Alaska.
  
     The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard
Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigative
Division, and is being prosecuted by Justice Department
Environmental Crimes Section Trial Attorneys Richard A. Udell and
Michael J. Woods in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney's Office
in San Juan.

     An indictment represents charges brought by a federal grand
jury and is not itself evidence.  The government has the burden
of proving the charges at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.  The
investigation is continuing.
                               ###
96-602